What is Binghamton like?

[Elizabeth1105]

I miss Binghamton.

I think the people who really dog Binghamton need to go and live somewhere really bad. I currently live out in SE Manitoba. Minimal jobs (unless you have the right last name or you want to drive an hour and a half to Winnipeg), rudest and most miserable people ever, cruddy weather (-50F windchills in the winter with days of seeing daily high temps anywhere from -20F to -40F), horrible roads and infastructure, high taxes . . . I now see Binghamton in a different light. We're planning on moving back to the US in a few years. We're considering the Binghamton area (as I'm from there and family is there). The only thing that will really keep us away is the property taxes.

I am so happy when I arrive back in Binghamton to visit family. I know there needs to be improvement, but it really is not a bad place to live.

[Tioga]

...A nice positive note(Elizabeth1105)....like I've said..live elsewhere for a while..ANY place will have it's negatives. People I've run into who have left the area and have stopped back to visit are easy to figure out. They almost feel compelled to say how great/wonderful/etc.. their new location is, and how much they don't miss the southern tier(Binghamton and vicinity). They then will offer their sympathy to us still living here.......They can save their shallow sympathy for someone else............

[amused2day]

I love the posts that tell you Binghamton is not so bad and they go on to describe worse places. Yes, and if you set yourself on fire you will appreciate being able to roll in Binghamton snow-even if it is May!. Yes, there are worse places and that is especially if you are able to leave the country. Even in the US you could probably do worse,although it is harder. You have one life. Why spend it in a depressed loser city. Yes there are worse but the optimistic point is that most are better. Go 150 miles in any direction and where you land will be better. It is just a simply disgusting place with a amazingly ugly cold university and an empty crumbling downtown and no mass transit and almost no way to get the hll out of there and gas and flights are about twice what they would be from anywhere else while incomes are half the state average and property values halve ever two years. It is an amazing place alright.

[amused2day]

I think the poster above you, Tioga, was trying to say that the area is pretty low level with few jobs for anyone who can read and write but there are jobs for the bulk of the residents. When the poster took the information off the resume that conveyed formal education, jobs became available. The trouble is that all the neighbors and co-workers could not read or write. Don't mean to be a snob but I like being around people who were able to stay in school beyond 6th grade but that's just silly ol'me and most residents are happy with the town as it is and as it was and as it always will be, a one closed factory town.

[Tioga]

Oh really?....and you must have conducted a secret survey(in your mind) which concluded that most southern tier residents barely have beyond a sixth grade education. And by your other jabs at the southern tier, it is easy to sense you really have not lived(we're not talking vacations) elsewhere in the U.S.
Some personal "snapshots" from my times in other areas of this country......police helicopter flyovers at night- Arizona, eye watering smog-L.A., low wages/high unemployment- FLorida, lack of people who can speak the language of this country-California, Arizona, Florida, etc..That's not even touching on the pathetic school systems in some states, overcrowded infrastructure-N.C.....and on and on. But of course...this area is "oh so terrible"............."sure"..........

[Penny Wize]

Elizabeth,
Do come back, Binghamton is not the best place but, it is not the worst. It is quiet and has 4 seasons, the traffic is light with good access from 3 major highways. It will never be perfect but we have hope with good schools and large homes and open areas. Yes the taxes are high but the homes are inexpensive. Our population for the county is stable at around 200,000. It would be better if we were part of Pensylvania. I would give the area a B-, If we were part of Pensylvania I would give the area an A-.

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Penny Wize

Elizabeth,
Do come back, Binghamton is not the best place but, it is not the worst. It is quiet and has 4 seasons, the traffic is light with good access from 3 major highways. It will never be perfect but we have hope with good schools and large homes and open areas. Yes the taxes are high but the homes are inexpensive. Our population for the county is stable at around 200,000. It would be better if we were part of Pensylvania. I would give the area a B-, If we were part of Pensylvania I would give the area an A-.

Just curious, why do you think it would be better if the area was in PA?

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by Penny Wize

Elizabeth,
Do come back, Binghamton is not the best place but, it is not the worst. * * * It would be better if we were part of Pensylvania.

I'd tend to agree. PA doesn't put welfare benefits and roads on the county property taxpayer, lifting major burdens off the "upstaters" compared to what NY faces.

Interestingly, after a while of living in Iowa I got tired of answering the "Where are you from?" question (grew up between Cortland and Ithaca, with degrees from SUNY-Binghamton and SUNY-ESF) with "New York STATE" and then offering all the subsequent explanations and disclaimers (such as "an hour further from NYC than we are from Chicago") and at least once just said "Pennsylvania."

Then I wound up, unforeseen, moving to PA, where I learned to say "P.A."

[Ugg Boots]

Originally Posted by artyst

can anyone tell me a little bit about binghamton? i'll be checking out the area next summer for a place to relocate. does anyone have a photo tour of binghamton??

hi, this is links london!
i think it depend on what you want